On 11 January 2014, an amendment of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act of the Republic of Korea entered into force. The change introduces the option of a joint venture with a foreign partner.While joint investments were impossible prior to the change, the new regime allows them under the following conditons:

The domestic partner is the majority owner of the stock issued by the joint venture (50 percent or more);

The foreign partner must hold 30 percent or more of the stock issued by the joint venture;

The change becomes effective 11 March 2014 and could affect the United States, Japan, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium --- the countries with the highest FDI stock in the local economy.